3 Easy Ways to Use Compost

 If you're a plant and nature lover like me, compost is a game changer. I have talked about the composting process on previous posts, but I want to share how I use compost in my day to day plant care. It's easy and very rewarding for your indoor and outdoor plant babies.

Compost Tea

The most frequent way I use compost is compost tea. Compost tea is basically a concentrated fertilizer. It is the product of soaking compost in water, and is amazing for your plants. I use compost tea for indoor and outdoor plants, instead of plant food or other artificial fertilizers. Compost tea is not only natural nutrition for your plants, but also the microorganisms in the compost tea promote better plant growth. It can even ward off pests and disease.

You need to be careful to dilute the tea to a light-yellow color, so as not to shock your plants. And I don't recommend watering with compost tea frequently. Every plant is different, and likes different fertilizing schedules, so it is important to follow each plant's preference. I have found success using compost tea every few months on my indoor plants. You can use it more frequently on outdoor plants. 

To make the compost tea, simply soak a 1 to 1 1/2 cups of compost in about 3-5 gallons of water. If you don't have a large bucket (I don't), soak the compost in a water pitcher, and dilute as you go. It works just as well!

Reviving Unhealthy Soil

When I moved into my current house, the soil was so sandy that the neighbor's cat used it as a litter box! I was awful. Right away, I started implanting compost into the soil. I removed a little of the sandy soil, and all the cat poop, and placed compost on the soil, and watered. I did this every month for about six months, and the soil became healthy again. It was inexpensive and easy.

There is a lot of science behind this, that I could explain inadequately, but if you are interested, I highly recommend watching the documentary Kiss the Ground on Netflix. I don't like to push documentaries on people and honestly don't generally enjoy them myself, but Kiss the Ground does provide detailed, easy-to-understand education about soil.

Planting

Have you ever seen freshly planted grass with wet dirt on top of it, and thought, what the heck is that? It's compost! It works wonders for new grass, and new plants.

I love to give my outdoor landscape and food plants compost when I plant them. As I fill in the hole around a new plant, I add some dirt and then some compost. The plants do much better with compost. I do this with all my outdoor plants, and especially food plants. I don't do this with indoor plants, because the potting soils that I use contain compost already. Remember, we don't want to over-fertilize our plants.

My orchid blooming after 2 years

I hope these tips help you plant babies thrive! I would love to hear how you use compost. Comment here with tips or questions!